Process of hydrocarbon oil conversion



J. B. HEID PROCESS OF HYDROCARBON OIL CONVERSIQNl Filed Nov.. 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 2, 1935.

April 2, 1935.

J. B. HEID PROCESS OF HYDRCARBON OIL CONVERSION Filed Nov. 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Zafz 71655.'

Patented Apr 2, 1935 lSTA'I'ES raoonss or n'mnoo ooNvEnsroN Jacob Benjamin Heid, Chicago, mi., assigner to Universal Gil Products Company, Chicago, mi., a corporation oi South Dakota application November i9, reso, senat Na, teaser 3 claims. (or. iesen l This invention relates to the treatment of hyby valve 33. The lighter components of the oil drocarbon oils, and more particularly it pertains passing into tower il will vaporize the heavier to the conversion of higher boilinghydrocarbons components precipitating to the bottom of the into lower boiling hydrocarbons. tower and being withdrawn through line it and e In one of its forms the invention relates to a valve t5. The intermediate fractionswhich vaa process wherein an oil to be treated undergoes porize in the lower part of tower 3l reflux in the conversion in the presence of hot gaseous products upper portion of the tower, and the reflux conof combustion. densate is drawn ou through line @t and valve In a more specic form, the invention refers dl to pump it, is pumped through line da and i@ to the treatment' of charging oil under suitable valve 50 to heating element 52 disposed in a furlo cracking .conditions in the presence of gaseous nace setting 5ft, in which the oil is heated to eleproducts of combustion, the cracked products vated temperatures which are preferably within being treated to elect a separation of liquid and the range at which mild cracking will occur, and vapors, the vapors being intermingled with fixed the oil is preferably maintained at a pressure sufhydrocarbon and combustion gases, suitable heat fcient to maintain substantially liquid phase conl5 exchange being effected between the charging ditions. oil and cracked products to edect heat economy From the heating element 52 the heated oil and to assist in the separation of the various passesthrough line 55 controlled by valve 56. components thereof. The oil may 'pass in whole or in part through The invention will be better understood by refline 5t and valve 59 into chamber t8, by oper- 20l erence to the drawings which are illustrative of ating valve (il. In the chamber the heavy una form of apparatus capable of being utilized in vaporized residue settles at the bottom and is the practice of the invention. withdrawn through line 62 and valve S3, the va- In the drawings, the raw oil to be treated is pors passing out of the chamber through line introduced through line l controlled by valve 2 6d and'valve b5 into line 55. The oil may be 25 into the charging pump 3. A portion, or if debypassed around chamber t@ by closing valves 5@ sired, all of the oil passes through line 5 controlled and 65, and opening valve tl. The hydrocarby valve t, through line 'l controlled by valve 8 bons pass from line 55, preferably in `the vapor into pump t from which it is pumped through state, through valve bl into a perforated pipe or line l@ controlled by valve il, into a fractionatcone @t disposed in a mixing chamber 69, which 3@ ing column i3 in which the lighter fractions is connected with a Combustion space l@ in which contained in the charging oil are removed. Reis burned fuel, preferably hydrocarbon gas or flux and raw oil are removed from the column I3 oil, introduced at ll, the products of combusthrough line llt controlled by valve l5, to pump tion passing into chamber 69 through passage in ll, and is pumped through valve I8 and line i9 l2. The products of combustion mix with and 35 to indirect heat exchanger 2li. From the heat heat the hydrocarbon vapors passing through exchanger the oil passes through line 2l, 00npipe or cone tr, the additional neat imparted to trolled by valve 22 to pump 2t, the oil being the vapors raising the temperature of the vapors pumped through line 25 controlled by valve 26. suiciently to induce vapor phase cracking.

d@ If the oil in line 25 does not'contain suiiicient The gas-vapor mixture passes through ver- 40 heat for vaporization, it may be passed in whole tical pipe 13 into chamber lt in which the mixor in part through line 28 and valve 29 into heatture is permitted toreact for a suftlcient period ing element 3@ in a suitable furnace setting 3l. of time to eiect the desired degree of conver- From the heating element it passes through line sion, the vapors and gases pass downwardly il@ 32 controlled by valve 33 back into line 25. A through the chamber it and outwardly through 45 portion 0r all 0f the oil may be bypassed through pipe it controlled by valve is into the lower part valve 3d in line 25 without going through heating of the fractionating tower i3. The MDOT-EES element. The oil passes from line 25 into a mixture is partially condensed by heat exchange VaDOIZing 01* Stripping OWGI 37. the lighter hywith the relatively cold oil'in exchanger 2li, the

d@ drOCarbOnS in the fOIm 0f VaDOIS going 01T heavy condensate being withdrawn at the bot- 50 through line 38 into condenser 39, and being tom of the tower through line 'll controlled by drawn oi to storage through line 40 and valve valve 18. All of the condensate may be withdi. The temperature of the vapor in tower 3l drawn to. storage through line i9 and valve may be controlled by the introduction of a spray 80, or a portion or all of it may pass through line of cold oil introduced through line 42 controlled 8l, valve 82, pump 8d, vline 84, valve 85 and line 55 I9 into the heat exchanger 20. The vapors and gases evolved in the tower I3 are partially cooledin the upper portion of the tower, the reux condensate being withdrawn together with the unvaporized portion of the charging oil through line I4, valve I5, pump I1 and valve I8, and passes into the heat exchanger 20 through line I9 where it joins any heavy condensate from tower I3 which may have been diverted into the heat exchanger.

The uncondensed vapors and gases in tower I3 pass out at the top of the tower through line 86, valve I 0I and pump or compressor |02 and may be further cooled by passing through line 81 and valve 88 into cooling coils 89, passing through valve into line 9|. Or the gas-vapor mixture may be bypassed in whole or in part around the cooler by closing valves 88 and 90, and opening a valve 92 in line 86 which leads into line 9i. Line 9| controlled by valve 93 leads to an absorption tower 94 in which the gas-vapor mixture is scrubbed by a countercurrent iiow of cold oil led from line 5 through valve 95'and line 96 and sprayed into the upper part of the absorption tower. In this tower the gases are scrubbed substantially free of hydrocarbon vapors and entrained hydrocarbon particles. The uncondensable gases pass out of the top of the tower 94 by means of pipe 91 and valve 98, the raw oil and condensed vapors being drawn oif through line 99 and valve |00, joining the oil stream passing through pipe 1.

The above description is to be understood as not limiting the scope of the invention, the apparatus and process which have been described being capable of wide variation without departing from the spirit of the invention..

Pressures employed within the system may range from sub-atmospheric to super-atmospheric pressures of several hundred pounds per sq. in. Substantially equalized pressure may be employed throughout the system or differential pressures may be utilized between the various elements. Conversion temperatures employed may range from 800 to 1300 F., more or less.

As a specific example of the operation of the improved process of the present invention a 34-35 A. P. I. gravity gas oil is fed through the absorber into fractionator I3, passing thereafter together with the reiiux condensate from the upper portion and the unvaporized heavier oil from the lower portion of this zone through heat exchanger 20 and through heating element 80to fractionator 31. Heating element 30 is maintained under a super-atmospheric pressure of about |00 pounds per sq. in. and the oil passing therethrough is heated to a temperature of approximately '700 F. Fractionating column 31 is maintained under substantially atmospheric pressure. Unvaporized residual oil is Withdrawn from the lower portion of the fractionator 31 and reflux condensate from the upper portion of this zone is supplied to heating element 52 where it is raised to a temperature of approximately '750 F. under a superatmospheric pressure of about 100 pounds per sq. in. A reduced pressure of about 30 pounds per sq. in. is maintained in chamber 60 and this pressure is substantially equalized throughout that portion of the cracking system comprising the combustion zone, the mixing chamber, the reaction chamber and fractionator I3. Absorber 94 is maintained under a superatmospheric pressure of about 30 pounds per sq. in. The temperature of the admixed combustion gases and hydrocarbons entering chamber 14 is approximately 1025 F.

This operation may yield approximately 50 percent of motor fuel having an anti-knock value equivalent to a blend of approximately '15 percent benzol and 25 percent Pennsylvania straight-run gasoline. About 13 percent pressure distillate bottoms `and some 22% of good quality fuel oil may represent the other liquid products from the system. No substantial amount of coke is produced and the l5 percent or thereabouts of gas may have a liquid hydrocarbon entrainment of about 3 percent or less on the basis of the oil treated, as compared with a loss of this nature totaling 5 per cent or more encountered in other types of vapor-phase cracking processes wherein hydrocarbons are mixed with hot combustion gases.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. A conversion process which comprises cracking hydrocarbon oil in a cracking zone by direct contact with heating gases, thereby forming a mixture containing gasoline and heavier vapors and gas, cooling said mixture to condense at least a portion of the heavier vapors by indirect heat exchange with a cooling medium, subsequently scrubbing the remaining mixture with charging oil for the process and condensing the gasoline vapors in the charging oil, utilizing the resultant mixture of charging oil and condensed gasoline as said cooling medium thereby preheating the mixture, distilling the thus preheated mixture to separate the gasoline as vapor from fractions of the charging oil heavier thanl gasoline, supplying at least a portion of said fractions to the cracking zone for cracking treatment therein, and condensing the last-mentioned vapor as a product of the process.

2. A conversion process which comprises cracking hydrocarbon oil in a cracking zone by direct contact with heating gases, thereby forming a mixture containing gasoline and heavier vapors and gas, cooling said mixture to condense at least a portion of the heavier vapors by indirect heat exchange with a cooling medium, subsequently scrubbing the remaining mixture with charging oil for the process and condensing the gasoline vapors in the charging oil, utilizing the resultant mixture of charging oil and condensed gasoline as said cooling medium thereby preheating the mixture, heating the resultant mixture of charging oil and condensed gasoline sufficiently to vaporize the latter and a substantial portion of the charging oil, fractionating the vapors thus formed to separate the vaporized portion of the charging oil from the vaporized gasoline, and supplying said portion of the charging oil to the cracking zone for cracking treatment therein.

3. A conversion process which comprises cracking hydrocarbon oil in a cracking zone by direct contact with heating gases thereby forming a mixture of vapors and gases, scrubbing a portion of said mixture of vapors and gases with fresh charging oil for the process and condensing in the charging oil suiiiciently and insufficiently cracked fractions of the vapors, passing the resultant mixture of charging oil and condensed suilciently and insuciently cracked fractions in heat exchange relation with said mixture of vapors and gases and supplying admixed vapors and gases uncondensed by the heat exchange to the scrubbing step, heating the resultant mixture of charging oil and condensed suilciently and insuflciently cracked fractions to vaporze said condensed fractions and a substantial p'ortion of the charging oil, fractionating the vapors thus formed to separate cracked fractions and the vaporized portion of the charging oil as condensate from the sumcently cracked fractions in the form of vapors.

the insumciently.

separately condensing the vapors of the sufciently cracked fractions as a product of the process, and supplying said condensate contaming the insumciently cracked fractions to said cracking zone for contact with heating gases therein.

JACOBBENJABM MID. 

